A new profession is gaining popularity via social networks: first name consultant! A lucrative job where you can claim thousands of euros to help future parents choose the best little name for their offspring…
Each birth, a happy event par excellence, is accompanied by a decisive choice: finding the perfect first name for your child. A thorny question that has left many parents in knots. But the days of choosing your baby’s name from an index in a book or while walking through a cemetery are over. Now we are in the digital age! Also, on social networks, more and more people are making this dilemma their business. And suffice to say, it pays off!
Baby name influencers, professional child names, naming consultants… Behind these terms lies a lucrative market where you are paid to help future parents find what to name their child. Taylor Humphrey (@whatsinababyname), 31,500 followers on Instagram and 70,900 on TikTok, is the proud representative and reference of this profession. “In the age of social networks, originality is essential. Your first name is a destiny, an identity, a trademark. It is the first impression that others will have of you”, she explained in an interview with The Guardian.
Choosing a first name requires taking into account numerous criteria: number of syllables, inspirations, letters not to be used, consonance with the family name, social group that the word must evoke… But it is also a question of avoiding first names that could be problematic, such as those used to refer to storms – like Katrina – or diseases – like Delta, the Covid-19 variant.
Parents’ search for originality has become a very lucrative business. Business Insider reports that a list of first names sells for around $1,500 and that the personalized consultation can reach $10,000. Colleen Slagen, for example, offers consultations starting at $250, but some consultants like Taylor Humphrey play in another category and can charge up to $30,000 per consultation!
The first-name consultant job draws heavy criticism for ripping off clients by asking them for money to do something they could do on their own. These would be services aimed at those who are so rich that they no longer know what to do with their money. But what was once seen as an eccentricity of the super-rich and famous is becoming increasingly common today, thanks in part to social media. Yet another ridiculous new trend, which should definitely not be encouraged!